5 Reasons Why You Should not Write Your Own Resume
Olivia Attwood
Certified Professional Resume Writer ● Career Coach ● Executive Resume Writer ● MBA, BEng, CPRW, CPCC
Do you know how long your resume has to impress a hiring manager? Six seconds. There are only six seconds between the time a hiring manager picks up your resume and decides whether to file it in the shortlist folder or just chuck it in the trash. Do you believe you have what it takes to write a resume that can impress a seasoned hiring manager in just 6 seconds?
Our advice? Hire a professional resume writer to write your resume for you. We are not just saying this because we are a resume writing service. We say this because it’s your best chance of getting an impressive resume to wow a potential employer.
1.A professional resume writer knows just how Applicant Tracking Systems (ATSs) work
You might be new to the resume writing field and not know much about how an ATS works, but an expert resume writer is a pro on the subject. Did you know that over 70% of resumes don’t even reach human eyes because they fail the initial ATS test? If you haven’t had success in your job search with the resume you wrote, it is probably because your resume failed the ATS test too.
A professional resume writer knows just how different employers set up the ATS parameters depending on their industry or field. For example, most employers set up their ATS parameters to select the ideal candidate based on certain keywords, dates, or even zip codes. Every resume that doesn’t line up with these elements will be thrown out of the competition. Imagine losing a fighting chance for your dream job just because you took a gamble with your resume instead of hiring a professional resume writer.
Trade secret: some employers set up their ATSs to guess the age of the applicant based on college graduation dates. This allows them to weed out applicants above a certain age. You may not know about this and list these dates on your resume, but a resume writing expert will never show the dates of graduation of a client who graduated 20 years back.
When you hire a professional resume writer, they will use the exact keywords from the job description and help your resume score higher on the ATS test. Most of the time, 30% of the candidates that get through the ATS would have hired resume writers.
2.You format your resume to be appealing to a human but a resume writing expert formats resumes for both humans and computers
An eye-catching resume with unique graphics looks amazing, right? As a rookie to resume writing, your first move will be to create a beautiful resume with really cool graphics, infographics, and tables to catch the hiring manager’s eye. This is how a lot of candidates put a full stop to their job search. An ATS cannot parse anything in a header, footer, table, graphic, or text box when it comes to resumes. The resume you spent hours working on will get you zero results in the job market.
A resume writer knows just how to format a resume to be appealing to the human eye without using any of those. They have mastered the art of skillfully employing capital letters, italics, bold text, bullet points, underlines, shading, and borders to grab the eye of the reader.
None of your accomplishments will go unnoticed by the hiring manager or the ATS with a professionally written resume.
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3.A professional resume writer knows the right content to display on your resume better than you
Most first-time resume writers write a boring job description when they draft their resume’s work experience section. If your resume contains even one sentence that can be applied to anyone other than yourself, you are wasting valuable resume space. Resume writing experts know this and will do their absolute best to highlight your highest professional achievements on your resume.
The expert resume writers at Resume Mansion are skilled in drawing out all the information related to the achievements of our clients. Most of the time, our clients don’t even know how much of an impact they’ve had on their company with their job role. We help them quantify the results they’ve achieved at work to make a compelling narrative about their past work experiences.
If you attempt to write a work history section without the help of a resume writer, you may end up with something similar to job duties listed on a typical job advert for the position.
4.You might be under the impression that a resume needs to be only one-page long, but a professional resume writer will know better
Most candidates who write their own resumes turn in one-page resumes that don’t even contain all the information about their past work experience or professional achievements. An expert resume writer does not believe in the “one-page resume” myth and will write you the perfect two-page or three-page resume.
The Resume Mansion writing team has spoken with a number of hiring managers who said that they prefer two-page resumes from their applicants. When it comes to fields like research and academics there is no mandate on the number of pages at all.
Hiring a professional resume writing service will give you a chance to put up a worthy fight for your target job. If you write your own resume, you are most likely to lead with a one-page resume to a competition where everyone else has two-page resumes.
5.Resume writing experts know just how to present your accomplishments to the recruiter
Confident, concise writing is the way to go when writing a professional resume. A professional resume writer knows the right elements to use to make an impressive stand. When a first-time resume writer writes a resume summary, they tend to add unnecessary details that make a hiring manager just put the resume away without even reading it. A professional resume writer knows how to word a strong resume summary to compel a recruiter to read on.
Here's something you didn’t know about writing impactful resume content: You should always lead with percentages instead of real dollars when writing your resume. The $1 million a year you saved for that startup will only look like a rookie number to a recruiter from a multinational conglomerate. A professional resume writer will skillfully show this number using a percentage to impress even the toughest hiring manager.